The present invention relates to the field of imaging and, more particularly, to a enabling the integration of a three hundred and sixty degree panoramic camera within a consumer electronic device case.
Increasingly, camera equipped mobile devices like portable computing tablets are replacing formerly discrete devices, such as still and video cameras. Consumers have begun to demand additional functionality from these devices (or from digital cameras). For example, cameras able to record depth for 3D and 4D imagining have begun to emerge. Similarly, panoramic modes for image capture are becoming an increasingly popular feature of many modern consumer device operating systems.
Conventional panoramic capture modes require successive movements of a device with a single activated lens. The movement permits different fields of view to be captured at different points in time, which can be stitched together into a panoramic view. Using conventional techniques, capturing scenes in this manner can be time consuming, and dynamic movement within the scenes (causing discrepancies in the time spaced images) can be problematic.
Another conventional panoramic technique is to utilize a single ultra-wide angle lens to capture a panoramic scene. This ultra-wide angle lenses may result in significant distortion, but the convenience of capturing a scene without time spacing images, outweighs these negatives to many users and manufactures. Some panoramic lenses are optical peripherals attachable to a mobile device, such as a tablet) to bend incoming light (using a fish-eye lens for example) before it enters the camera's internal optical components.
One solution such as clip on adapters which permit panoramic capabilities can cause the consumer electronic device to be cumbersome and weighty. Further, the solutions often only provide limited field of view which can result in the omission of critical imagery. Additionally, many adapters force users to orient devices in non-standard orientations (e.g., flat) which can block users from seeing a live preview of a panoramic camera.